Societal and Global Trends Lecture Notes

Exhaustive vocabulary list covering social class, generational differences, migration, political systems of the US and UK, globalization, and media trends based on lecture transcripts.

Social class

The grouping of people in society according to their social and economic status, including the lower, middle, and upper classes.

Income

The money earned through a job, which is a factor that affects an individual's social class.

Wealth

The accumulation of assets and another key factor in determining a person's social class.

Social inequality

The unequal opportunities and rewards available to different groups within a society, influencing areas like health and education.

Social mobility

The movement of an individual, family, or group up or down the social hierarchy.

Silent Generation

The generation of people born between $1927$ and $1943$.

Baby Boomers

The generation born between $1944$ and the early $1960s$.

Generation X

The generation born between the early $1960s$ and the early $1980s$.

Millennials (Generation Y)

The generation born between the early $1980s$ and the late $1990s$, characterized as confident, self-expressive, and liberal.

Generation Z

The first generation to grow up truly mobile, born between the late $1990s$ and the present day, characterized as the most connected generation.

Cultural diversity

When people of different races, ethnicities, nationalities, languages, religions, or sexual orientations live together in a community.

Ethnicity

Belonging to a group of people who share a common culture, including their history, religion, language, and traditions.

Mass immigration

The migration of large groups of people from one geographical area to another.

Multi-ethnic

A term describing a society that includes various groups of people from different cultures.

Race

The defining of people according to a variety of physical characteristics.

Brain drain

The loss of highly educated and skilled individuals from developing countries due to international migration.

Undocumented workers

Migrant workers who do not have legal documentation, making them cheaper for employers but easier to exploit.

Affirmative action

Positive discrimination programs that give advantages in education and employment to minorities to improve their social situation.

Melting pot

A metaphor for a nation where immigrants give up their former way of life to become part of a unified, monocultural nation.

Salad bowl

A metaphor for a multicultural society where different cultures mix but remain distinct and different.

The American Dream

A set of beliefs that theoretically allow every American the freedom to prosper and advance sociali-economically through hard work.

Devolution

The transfer of political powers from the central government to regional law-making institutions, as seen in the UK.

Welfare state

A system aimed at providing security for individuals 'from the cradle to the grave' through government-funded benefits.

Commonwealth

An association of $54$ nations that maintains close ties between the UK and its former colonies.

Globalisation

The growing global network of trade, travel, knowledge, and influence occurring across the planet.

Westernisation

The process where Western culture, propagated by media, serves as an example for developing countries, sometimes endangering local diversity.

Outsourcing

The practice where companies delegate certain tasks to outside providers to save costs.

Offshoring

The act of moving business materials or labor to different countries to achieve lower costs and higher profits.

Fair trade

Campaigns aimed at helping developing countries receive a fair share of profits from global trade.

Supranational organisation

An international group or union in which the power and influence of member states transcend national boundaries, such as the EU.

Minimum wage

The lowest hourly, daily, or monthly amount that employers are legally required to pay to their employees.

Index-linked

When financial values, like minimum wage, are adjusted automatically to grow in proportion with inflation.

Broadsheets

Quality newspapers characterized by longer, in-depth articles and a factual, less sensational presentation.

Tabloids

Popular newspapers known for scandalmongering, celebrity gossip, and a subjective, sensational journalistic style.

User-generated content

Digital content created, shared, and remixed by the public rather than professional media producers.

Crowdsourcing

The process of journalists or agencies obtaining information and content from a large group of people via digital media.

Infotisement

Articles that appear to provide news or information but are actually written by advertisers to sell a specific product or brand.

Advertainment

A hybrid of advertising and entertainment that includes product placement in films or TV shows.

Lingua franca

A common language used for communication between people who do not share a native language, such as English in global trade.

Renaissance

A period of cultural change, learning, and art that began in Italy in the late $14th$ century and reached England in the early $17th$ century.